Bottom and bank facing mattress

ABSTRACT

A mattress for use in building bottom and bank revetments consists of a woven mat of plastics material to which tubular structures of plastics material are secured as substitutes for conventional fascines, said tubular structures being adapted to be filled with ballast material.

United States Patent De Winter 1 Oct. 24, 1972 I54] BOTTOM AND BANK FACING FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS MATTRESS 92,320 4/1968 France ..6l/l F [72] Inventor: Jan Gerri! De Winter, Enschede, 820,516 9/1959 Great Britain ..6l/38 Netherlands 1,022,319 3/1966 Great Britain ...61/38 [73] Assignee: Nicolon NV" Enschede, Netheb 6,705,380 l0/l968 Netherlands ..6l/38 lands Primary Examiner-Jacob Shapiro Filed! 1969 Att0rneyBurns, Lobato & Zelnick A i N 74 318 [211 pp 0 8 i 57 ABSTRACT [30] Foreign Application Priority Dam A mattress for use in building bottom and bank revetments consists of a woven mat of plastics material to I968 Netherlands -6816093 which tubular structures of plastics material are secured as substitutes for conventional fascines, said [52] US. Cl. ..6l/38 b l tructures being adapted to be filled with bal- [5 l Int. Cl. ..E02b 3/12 last materiaL [58] Field of Search ..6l/38, 37,1, 2, 3

9 Claims, 11 Drawing Figures [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,968,928 l/l96l Wicklander ..6l/l F 3,344,609 l2/l967 Greisser ..61/38 l 1 l l l- '2 I 1 i I l 3' I ::I::. 3

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l T| n l l 1 I 1 I I l I l l l I PATENTEDnm 24 1912 SHEET 1 [IF 2 BOTTOM AND BANK FACING MATTRESS The invention relates to a bottom and bank facing mattress, comprising a mat consisting of a waterpermeable, but sand and soil-tight structure of plastics material, such as a fabric, which is provided with fascine-substitutes. For the fascines of such mattresses, there has hitherto been used willow, osiers or like natural material of more or less irregular shape. The preparation of such fascines and their attachment to the mat is laborious and cumbersome. Furthermore, the production of these known fascines is dependent on the occurrence of willow, osiers or like wood in nature. However, at the present time this material is increasingly scarcely available. Moreover, it is subject to rot and other harmful influences, especially when used as a bank facing and similar uses, in which the fascines are located in the wind-and-water line zone. At the coast, this material is liable to damage from shipworm.

The known fascines are moreover voluminous and heavy, which renders their shipment and handling difficult. Often the buoyancy of a bottom or bank facing mattress constructed with such fascines is insufficient, because the specific gravity of the wood may be increased to a value in excess of 1 when it has been exposed to water or heavy rain for some time.

The object of the invention is to provide a bottom and bank facing mattress of the kind defined in the opening paragraph of this specification, which avoids the above and similar disadvantages of hitherto known constructions.

To this effect, such a bottom or bank facingmattress according to the invention is characterized in that the fascine-substitutes each consist of at least one reinforcing tube to be filled with ballast material, said tube being likewise formed of plastics material, such as water-permeable plastics material and/or impermeable plastics foil material, or a bundle of flexible or relatively rigid plastics tubes.

The combination of plastics reinforcing tubes with plastics fabric for the mat provides ideal possibilities for prefabricated bottom and bank facing mattresses having good filtering properties. The disadvantages outlined above are effectively overcome, while the extremely intimate connection ensures and optimum cooperation between the mat and the reinforcing tubes.

An extremely firm attachment is obtained, according to the invention, if at least a number of the reinforcing elements made of plastics tubing are inserted under loops formed on, and interwoven with, the mat, such as floating or non-woven portions of bands of threads which are partially woven into the mat material, or are secured to the mat by means of rope inserted through such loops. This can be advantageously effected by inserting the reinforcing elements in one direction of the grid pattern under a series of such loops, and inserting the reinforcing elements extending transversely thereto under the first-mentioned elements at positions intermediate adjacent loops. in the case of bank revetments, the first-mentioned reinforcing elements will be oriented parallel to the bank, so that the required extra firm grip of the fascines on the mat is ensured in a simple manner. This will also effectively prevent the rolling off of ballast rocks during or after sinking of the mat- According to a further feature of the invention, the plastics reinforcing elements may be formed by striplike portions of the mat proper, such strip portions being of a single layer and being interwoven with each other along their longitudinal edges, the mat being for the rest formed as a double cloth fabric. The hollow portions of the double cloth fabric are located in a grid pattern, and the fields" between them thus consist of a double layer so that they are extremely resistant to the ballast material with which they are to be loaded.

Furthermore, according to the invention, within a reinforcing element formed of plastics fabric, there may be provided an impermeable sleeve of plastics foil, a bundle of thin flexible or relatively rigid plastics tubes, or a second sleeve of plastics fabric. The reinforcing elements are then in fact formed as doublewalled, hollow tubes, or as a bundle of flexible or relatively rigid plastics tubes with an envelope.

When the reinforcing elements are provided with impermeable linings, or when the elements as a whole consist of an impermeable plastics tube, a number of the elements can be used as floats for the mattress when the tubes are closed at their ends and filled with air during the floating period. When the mattress is sunk, the internal cavities are flooded. [t is also possible to fill the tubes with colloidal, pumpable cement grout, a sand mixture stabilized, for example, with asphalt, or any other ballast material, e.g., plastics. In such cases, the impermeable inner sleeves or the tubular elements are provided with valves. Reinforcing elements of permeable fabric may be filled, for example, with a pressure-resistant foam, e.g., polyurethane foam. It will be understood that this is a permanent filling for a number of elements. The other elements may be filled, during or after the sinking, with a colloidal cement solution, a stabilized sand mixture, or another suitable filling.

When the reinforcing element consist of elements separate from the mat, a quick-drying adhesive may be applied to the crossings of the elements to prevent them from shifting relative to the mat and to each other.

It is also possible to provide the edge of this mat with pouches for receiving the ends of the reinforcing elements.

By virtue of the fact that it is possible to use reinforcing elements of greater rigidity and strength than the traditional fascines of natural material, it is also possible to change the traditional 1 meter grid arrangement in which the fascines are spaced. Thus, for example, fields of 2 m square are possible for the reinforcing elements of this invention.

Long reinforcing elements can be made by joining the ends of prefabricated lengths together, as by employing connecting sleeves.

The construction according to the invention is productive of highly sturdy, relatively rigid mattresses, which can be properly ballasted and are nevertheless sufficiently flexible to adapt themselves to the contours of the bottom or bank.

The invention further relates to a method of applying mattresses of the kind described hereinbefore, and to a mattress applied by said method.

Two embodiments of a mattress according to the invention are diagrammatically shown, by way of example, in the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a portion of a first embodiment of a mattress according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a part-sectional view on the line lI-II in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a corner portion of a different embodiment of the mattress construction according to the invention;

FIGS. 4a-4d are end views of the synthetic yarn fabric tubular elements of FIGS. I and 2, shown as containing various different materials; and

FIGS. Sa-Sd are end views of the synthetic yarn fabric tubular elements of FIG. 3, shown as containing various different materials.

Referring to the drawings, there is shown a mat l of strong polyethylene yarn, woven so as to be waterpermeable, but sand and soil-tight, and having a tensile strength of at least 2 ton/m. Woven into the mat are bands 5 of abt. 30 threads of the same or similar yarn of a color contrasting with that of the mat, said bands being spaced axial distances of 50 cm apart, and having floating or nomwoven portions 4 of abt. 20 25 cm every 2 m. In the longitudinal direction of the mat, impermeable tubes 3 of PVC or polyethylene, having an external diameter of abt. 12 cm and a wall thickness of e.g., 2 mm, are inserted in tubular elements 3' formed of synthetic yarn fabric such as polyethylene, and the tubular elements are received; under the series of loops 4 thus formed, thereby to form reinforcing elements extending in the longitudinal direction of the mat.

Similar tubular elements 2' are inserted as transverse reinforcing elements under the longitudinal elements 3, 3 intermediate each two corresponding pairs of loops 4. to be likewise spaced axial distances of abt. 2 m apart.

As shown at reference numeral 6 in FIG. 1, the transverse elements 2 can be tied to the loops 4 which are grouped in pairs along each band of threads 5.

Alternatively, by means of quick-drying adhesive, cg, PVC adhesive, at the crossings 8, the elements 2 and 3 are prevented from shifting relative to each other. There is thus formed a sturdy, firm but relatively flexible grid assembly with parts of the polyethylene yarn fabric in the grid fields by way offilling.

The ends of the reinforcing tubes 2 and 3 are closed with plastics caps 7, so that the air-filled tubes form floats.

Adjacent the ends of the inserted elements 2 and 3, the fabric of the mat is connected with the elements by means of rope 6 inserted through the last loops 4' of the bands 5.

Before the mattress is sunk, the caps 7 are removed. By injecting colloidal cement grout into the internal cavities of the tubes 2 and 3, the mattress can be ballasted.

The mattress 11 as shown in FIG. 3 consists generally of a mat 12 of double cloth fabric with single-layer fabric portions l3, l3 and 14, 14, arranged in pairs and extending at right angles to each other in the desired grid pattern of the reinforcing elements. Along their edges, these portions pass into the double cloth fabric, which forms the fields between the reinforcing elements.

Inserted into the communicating cavities thus formed, are sleeves l5 and 16 of impermeable plastics foil. which cross each other at the nodes of the grid.

The sleeves of plastics foil can be filled with ballast material in one direction. In the case of a mattress for use in bank revetments, this should be the direction parallel to the bank. The plastics foil in the other direction can be temporarily inflated and closed to serve as floats.

Each of FIGS. 4a 4d show one of the separate tubular elements 2' or 3' of FIGS. 1 and 2, where the tubular element 2' in FIG. 4a is filled with a ballast material 18', the element 2' of FIG. 4b has a plastic tube 2 received therein; the element 2' in FIG. 4c has a plastic tube 2received therein, said tube being filled with a ballast material 18', and, FIG. 4d has a bundle of plastic tubes 19 received therein.

Similarly, each of FIGS. Sa-Sb show the tubular elements of synthetic yarn fabric as formed in the modification of FIG. 3, wherein the single layer portions which are not interwoven define the grid of elements 2" and 3". Accordingly, FIG. 5a shows an element 2" filled with ballast material 18; FIG. 5b shows an empty plastic tube 2 received in the element 2", FIG. 5c shows a tube 2 received in the element 2" and filled with a ballast material 18; and, FIG. 5d shows an element 2" having a bundle of plastic tubes 19 received therein.

Naturally, the invention is not limited to the embodiments described hereinbefore and shown in the accompanying drawings. Numerous structural variants will readily occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in and by the accompanying claims.

I claim:

I. A mattress for the protection of soil surfaces, comprising a water-permeable, but sand and silt-tight synthetic yarn fabric in the form of a relatively large continuous mat, a plurality of elongated tubular elements arranged in a grid form, and means connecting said elements to said mat, wherein each said elongated element is formed by a tube of synthetic yarn fabric.

2. A mattress according to claim 1, wherein the synthetic yarn fabric of the mat is a double cloth, and, wherein the tubular elements of the grid are formed between the single layers of the double cloth, said layers being interwoven at spaced areas to form a plurality of squares spaced apart by said tubular elements.

3. A mattress according to claim 1, further comprising a plurality of plastic tubes received respectively in the interior of the respective synthetic fabric elements of the grid.

4. A mattress for the protection of soil surfaces according to claim 3, wherein at least selected ones of said plastic tubes are filled with ballast.

5. A mattress for the protection of soil surfaces according to claim 1, wherein at least selected ones of said tubular elements are filled with ballast.

6. A mattress according to claim 1, further comprising a plurality of bundles of plastic tubes, received respectively in the interior of said tubes of yarn fabric.

7. A mattress for the protection of soil surfaces according to claim 1, wherein each said tubular element is an individual element which is separate from said mat.

8. A mattress according to claim 7, wherein said means connecting said elongated elements to said mat includes bundles of filaments woven into the fabric of include bundles of filaments woven into the mat in spaced strips, said bundles having longitudinally spaced non-woven portions thereby forming loops, wherein a plurality of said elements are passed through said loops. 

1. A mattress for the protection of soil surfaces, comprising a water-permeable, but sand and silt-tight synthetic yarn fabric in the form of a relatively large continuous mat, a plurality of elongated tubular elements arranged in a grid form, and means connecting said elements to said mat, wherein each said elongated element is formed by a tube of synthetic yarn fabric.
 2. A mattress according to claim 1, wherein the synthetic yarn fabric of the mat is a double cloth, and, wherein the tubular elements of the grid are formed between the single layers of the double cloth, said layers being interwoven at spaced areas to form a plurality of squares spaced apart by said tubular elements.
 3. A mattress according to claim 1, further comprising a plurality of plastic tubes received respectively in the interior of the respective synthetic fabric elements of the grid.
 4. A mattress for the protection of soil surfaces according to claim 3, wherein at least selected ones of said plastic tubes are filled with ballast.
 5. A mattress for the protection of soil surfaces according to claim 1, wherein at least selected ones of said tubular elements are filled with ballast.
 6. A mattress according to claim 1, further comprising a plurality of bundles of plastic tubes, received respectively in the interior of said tubes of yarn fabric.
 7. A mattress for the protection of soil surfaces according to claim 1, wherein each said tubular element is an individual element which is separate from said mat.
 8. A mattress according to claim 7, wherein said means connecting said elongated elements to said mat includes bundles of filaments woven into the fabric of the mat in spaced strips, the bundles having longitudinally spaced non-woven portions thereby forming loops, and a plurality of ropes tied around said elements and through said loops.
 9. A mattress according to claim 7, in which said means connecting said elongated elements to said mat include bundles of filaments woven into the mat in spaced strips, said bundles having longitudinally spaced non-woven portions thereby forming loops, wherein a plurality of said elements are passed through said loops. 